LATEST UPDATES Last updated on May 15, 2020
Miller & Chevalier
(for Bahrain)
Hired: March 2018
2018 fees: $99,000
NEW Supplemental
(Oct. 1, 2019 – March 31, 2020)
Miller and Chevalier provided no services to Bahrain in the six-month period ending March 31. The firm did not receive any fees from the country in that period.
BGR Government Affairs
(for Bahrain)
Hired: June 2018
2018 fees: $470,000
NEW Q1 domestic lobbying filing
Bahrain’s embassy paid BGR Government Affairs $200,000 in the first quarter to lobby Congress and the State Department on US-Bahrain relations.
APCO Worldwide
(for Bahrain Economic Development Board)
Hired: Oct. 2018
2018 fees and expenses: $22,000
NEW Supplemental
(Sept. 1, 2019 – Feb. 29, 2020)
Fees: $66,000
NEW Terminated foreign agent
Sukanti Ghosh
Bahrain’s Economic Development Board paid APCO Worldwide $66,000 in the six-month period ending Feb. 29. In October, the firm arranged meetings for two companies with the board in Washington. In addition, the firm contacted 17 outlets, including Politico, The Hill, Wired and gaming publications to “promote the country as an attractive location for business investment and expansion,” and met with Politico on Dec. 9.
Sukanti Ghosh stopped working for APCO Worldwide and its client, the Bahrain Economic Development Board, on Oct. 11. Ghosh is currently a senior vice president at the Albright Stonebridge Group.
DLA Piper
(for Bahrain)
Hired: 2014
2018 fees: $258,000
NEW Supplemental
(Sept. 1, 2019 – Feb. 29, 2020)
DLA Piper reported no activity or fees for Bahrain in the six-month period ending Feb. 29.
Rokk Solutions
(for Bahrain)
Hired: May 2019
NEW Amendment
Rokk Solutions amended its six-month filing for the period ending Sept. 30, 2019, to note that it was paid $110,000 by Richard Attias and Associates for public relations and consulting services around the "Peace to Prosperity" economic workshop held in Manama, Bahrain in June 2019, which sought to build support for the Donald Trump administration’s Middle East peace plan. Rokk’s contract with Attias, a Dubai-based global communications advisory firm, was terminated July 18, 2019.
Sonoran Policy Group
(for Bahrain)
Hired: Feb. 2018
2018 fees: $500,000
NEW Supplemental
(July 1, 2019 – Dec. 31, 2019)
Fees: $55,000
Sonoran Policy Group was paid $55,000 by Bahrain, according to the firm’s lobbying filing for the second half of 2019. The firm met with Reps. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., and Jason Crow, D-Colo., on behalf of Bahrain in July and September (Sonoran’s contract with the Bahraini Embassy in Washington was terminated Oct. 5). Lobbyist Anne Ekern left the firm Oct. 20, leaving founder Robert Stryk and CEO Christian Bourge as the firm’s only two foreign agents.
ANNUAL OVERVIEW
Bahrain banks on Trump with Israeli-Palestinian gambit
Julian Pecquet
@JPecquet_ALM
jpecquet@al-monitor.com
Julian Pecquet is the Editor of Special Projects for Al-Monitor, where he supervises the award-winning Lobbying Tracker as well as managing long-form stories. Before that he covered the US Congress for Al-Monitor. Prior to joining Al-Monitor, Pecquet led global affairs coverage for the political newspaper The Hill.
Posted: September 11, 2019
The tiny kingdom of Bahrain is deepening its ties to the United States and Israel in a bid for more influence amid increasing regional tensions with Iran.
After playing a lead role in the fruitless Gulf public relations campaign against Qatar in 2017 and unsuccessfully battling President Donald Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs last year, Manama has once again changed up its lobbying focus. Undeterred by regional criticism that the Trump administration greatly favors Israel over the Palestinians, Bahrain agreed to host the roll-out of the US peace plan’s economic component in May despite widespread skepticism that it would amount to anything.
“The ‘Peace to Prosperity’ workshop underscores the close strategic partnership between the Kingdom of Bahrain and the United States as well as the strong and shared interest in creating thriving economic opportunities that benefit the region,” Bahrain Minister of Finance and National Economy Salman bin Khalifa Al Khalifa declared in a joint statement with US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin at the time. A month later, Trump senior adviser Jared Kushner told the Bahrainis he was “overwhelmed” by their assistance on the peace push.
In order to promote the conference, Bahrain hired Washington communications firm ROKK Solutions — via Dubai-based Richard Attias and Associates — for $110,000 to help with message development; media opportunities; engaging with TV reporters, producers and anchors; running the on-site media center; content development; and media monitoring.
Separately, the kingdom continues to retain the services of four other firms — DLA Piper, BGR Government Affairs, Sonoran Policy Group and Miller & Chevalier — the last three of which were hired last year. All told the Bahraini government paid out almost $1.4 million for lobbying in 2018, notably to defeat a resolution from Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., to restrict arms sales to Manama (the resolution failed 77-21).
In addition, the Bahrain Economic Development Board paid APCO Worldwide $22,000 last year to “promote the country as an attractive location for business investment and expansion.” The Sunni-ruled, Shiite-majority country has begun to see a rebound in pledged foreign investment following the political unrest of the 2011 Arab Spring protests and the subsequent crackdown, but faces new challenges to its role as a gateway to the Saudi market as Riyadh pursues its own economic modernization.
Despite backlash in parts of the Arab world, Bahrain’s US gambit appears to have earned some early returns. The same month that Manama announced it would be hosting the Palestinian investment summit, the Pentagon notified Congress of plans to sell the country $2.5 billion in Patriot missile batteries and $750 million in missiles for its F-16 fleet.
The kingdom has failed to make headway on the issue of tariffs, however, which threaten the country’s effort to diversify its economy and attract manufacturing jobs. Bahrain was the fourth-largest exporter of aluminum to the United States in 2017, according to the Congressional Research Service, with $585 million worth of exports. Moody's credit rating agency predicts the kingdom, which ranked as the world’s eighth-largest aluminum producer in 2016, is among the countries with the most to lose.
HIGHLIGHTS
Main lobby firm:
Sonoran Policy Group
$1.4 million
Total lobbying and PR spending for 2018
WINS
- Bahrain hosts international maritime coalition including Israel
- Kushner lauds Bahrain role in peace summit
- Bahrain scores $3 billion weapons sale
LOSSES
- Israel-Palestinian peace conference fails to deliver
- US steel and aluminum tariffs remain in place
- Saudi reforms threaten foreign investment push
KNOW MORE
The winners and losers of the Bahrain conference
Daoud Kuttab
Bahrain drops anti-Qatar lobbying to refocus on its own issues
Julian Pecquet
Bahrain conference showcases Israeli ties with Gulf states
Danny Zaken
U.S. ASSISTANCE
U.S. ARMS SALES
